Working Hours Arrangements and Physical Activity among Primary Health-Care Workers

The main barrier to exercise is lack of time or perceived lack of time. Few occupational groups experience higher health risks (whether to somatic or mental health) than health-care workers, as measured by levels of sick-leave and disability pensioning. D ifferent working-hours arrangements and a growing demand for flexible working hours are especially important in occupations characterised by traditional rotation schemes. Medical research state that low leisure-time physical activity is associated with several somatic health problems such as skeletomuscular- disease, obesity/overweight, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A number of studies also show a clear association between physical activity and mental health. Skeletomuscu lar diseases and mental health problems are the most frequent reasons for sick leave. It would therefore be of interest to study the relationship between different working-hours arrangements and physical activity and lifestyle in general in primary healt h-care workers. The main hypothesis is that some schemes are better than others in promoting physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. We aim to identify these working-hours arrangements. Data will be collected both via a focus group interview and thr ough a comprehensive questionnaire to primary health-care workers in a balanced sample of Norwegian local authorities. Employees in home care, nursing homes and those working in housing for the elderly will be the respondents. From these data, empirical m odelling based on well-established econometric methods will be used to identify working-hours arrangements that promote or prevent a healthy lifestyle, while controlling for other factors to isolate the effects of working hours.